38. Someone by the bedside in the dead of night

“Old Chen, you’re back?”
Chen Sheng was still adjusting to the shift in his vision, not yet having removed those gold-rimmed spectacles, when a familiar, sweet and gentle girl’s voice reached his ears.

“Could you please not use the tone as if I’ve been gone for ages? That phrase ‘you’re back’ doesn’t really fit here.” With calm composure, Chen Sheng took off the gold-rimmed glasses and put on his original black-framed pair. “I just played a game for a while! It’s not like I went out.”

The girl sprawled on the sofa, looking like a complete layabout, rolled her eyes at his words.

She knew the truth.

But she wouldn’t say a word!

Still, with a sly glint in her eyes, Yu Youxin sat up, her interest piqued. “So, Old Chen, did you enjoy yourself?”

“It was alright,” Chen Sheng replied ambiguously. The healing game’s immersive experience was truly beyond compare—even if one did nothing but spend time inside, it was a wonderful sensation.

Yet the game’s numerous traps and misleading mechanics left him quite irritated.

Who designs so many erroneous hints just to mislead players?

It was even more outrageous than a predatory developer.

At least those only trick you into spending money, and with enough sense, you can avoid them. But in this game, the traps were everywhere and completely unavoidable!

Sometimes you’d even rush headlong into them, brimming with enthusiasm!

Not much harm, but plenty of insult.

Chen Sheng had already defined this “old mansion journey” as him enthusiastically flinging himself into a pit.

He guessed there was a follow-up task as well: to find those nine ghosts who escaped the villa and disguised themselves as living humans.

“Trick me once and then want to trick me again?”

“Don’t even think about it!”

“If I run into them next time, I’ll just ignore them!”

His inner thoughts ran wild.

From Chen Sheng’s tone, Yu Youxin detected something amiss, and couldn’t help but smile. Leaping from the sofa, she scampered over to him, grinning as she asked, “Old Chen, what did you run into? You know, I’m a seasoned player of this game!”

“Really?” Chen Sheng instinctively doubted her, recalling an old saying: ‘A smiling face isn’t always trustworthy.’

And right now, the mischievous girl fit that adage perfectly.

---

“How could you not believe me, Old Chen! I gave you this game, remember!” Yu Youxin feigned annoyance, even turning her face away and huffing to amplify her act.

Chen Sheng, however, paid her no mind. After three years of acquaintance, he knew her character well.

In all that time, he’d never seen her truly angry.

When it came to kindness, among all the girls he’d known, none surpassed this little one.

So Chen Sheng simply went straight to the point: “Then tell me, what are the game’s mechanics?”

“Game mechanics?”

That question genuinely stumped her, for it wasn’t really a game at all. Who knew how Old Chen had come to believe it was one!

Her mind filled with complaints, she was at a loss.

But after a moment’s thought, her sharp wit gave her the answer.

“This game is extremely realistic—pain, sensations, everything is faithfully reproduced. So it’s just like real life, whatever you do here, you can do there. Also, whatever abilities you possess, you can use them directly in the game. The game even enhances those abilities, and sometimes, there’s a chance they become your exclusive skills!”

Chen Sheng raised his eyebrows at her explanation. He’d already experienced the realism, especially the lightning-fast speed he’d felt in the game, which let him truly appreciate the wonders of that peculiar training method.

But as for exclusive skills, he hadn’t noticed anything of the sort.

“So that’s the proper way to gain skills! This healing game really is innovative!” Chen Sheng’s spirits soared, finally understanding how to approach it.

“My speed didn’t become an exclusive skill, so perhaps my performance wasn’t outstanding enough. But that’s alright—I’ve got the next stage of that strange training method!”

Having decided, Chen Sheng took out his phone to check the time. If it was still early, he thought he’d play a bit longer.

“Midnight?”

Seeing the hour displayed on his phone, he instantly abandoned the idea and without hesitation began getting ready for bed.

But as he headed for the bedroom, he noticed the girl was following him.

“You’re not planning to sleep with me, are you?” Chen Sheng couldn’t help but ask, surprised by how harmless he must seem in her eyes.

He certainly didn’t believe she was naive.

Some people might look young, but their knowledge of certain things could well exceed their parents’.

“Of course not!” she replied, shaking her head at once.

“Then why…” Chen Sheng started to ask, gesturing toward the bedroom.

“The sofa is just too uncomfortable,” she said, eyes wide and a mischievous smile on her delicate face.

---

Chen Sheng instantly grasped the meaning behind her smile and tried to negotiate. “How about I make up a bed for you on the floor?”

It felt a bit heartless to let her sleep on the sofa.

“No!” Yu Youxin rejected the idea outright.

“The floor bed can be quite comfortable too…” Chen Sheng attempted to persuade her.

“Then why don’t you sleep on the floor, Old Chen?” Yu Youxin shot him a suspicious glance.

Of course, a bed was far more comfortable than the floor!

Realizing he couldn’t fool her, Chen Sheng went to unfold the sofa in the living room.

Lying down, he soon drifted off—after all, he had work the next day.

But as he slept, Chen Sheng suddenly felt a chill, oddly affecting only part of his body. It made him open his eyes, and he saw his blanket was gone.

A glance revealed it wrapped snugly around someone beside him.

She’d cocooned herself like a dumpling.

Chen Sheng: “…”

Here she goes again.

Though the lights were out, the familiar fragrance told him immediately who it was.

And with no one else in the house, there was no need to guess.

“Could this little one have a habit of sleepwalking? Why hadn’t the nurses mentioned it before?” He yawned, dismissed the thought, and went back to his bedroom.

Opening the door, he went to bed without a second thought, pulled the blanket over himself.

But as he did, something felt off.

The blanket was warm, and a familiar fragrance drifted to his nose.

“Hm?”